 Amen. Thank you for praying, brothers. Good to see you and welcome back to those who are listening online through our evening service. We're grateful to the Lord to be able to gather for an evening service like this and look at God's word together. So with that turn with me and to the book of Judges. It's been a little while since we've visited Gideon in the book of Judges and so we come again this evening to Judges chapter 6 or text is verses 33 through 40 and the title of our sermon Strength and Weakness and when we last left Gideon, Gideon has been called into service. The Israelites are under the iron fist of the Midianite menace. They have swept across the land seven years in a row now destroying the land, ruining crops, stealing cattle and so the Israelites are impoverished and they began to cry out to the Lord and the Lord answers by raising up another judge and that is Gideon here in Judges chapter 6 and so we're going to continue to see how the Lord works through Gideon to prepare him to deliver his people in our text this evening. So let's look at Judges chapter 6 beginning in verse 33. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east gathered together and they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon then he blew the trumpet and the Abiyah's rites gathered behind him and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh who also gathered behind him and he also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naftali and they came up to meet them. So Gideon said to God if you will save Israel by my hand as you have said look I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor if there is dew on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said and it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together he rung the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God do not be angry with me but let me speak just once more let me test I pray just once more with the fleece let it now be dry only on the fleece but on all the ground that there be dew and God did so that night it was dry on the fleece only but there was dew on all the ground this is the word of God amen amen let's pray and then we'll study this text together let's pray. Father in Heaven I thank you for this book the book of the judges and the history of your gracious and merciful deliverance of your people time and time and time again what a triumphant testimony this is of your patience your long suffering your grace and your mercy and how even when we Lord especially when we do not deserve it you are faithful to your word faithful to your covenant and we rejoice Lord to worship this testimony of who you are in this book. This book Lord also shows us very clearly our own sin the condition of man and the depths of which we have fallen and we praise your grace Lord praise you for your mercy toward us and pray Lord that you'd be merciful to us now in having saved us in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith through faith by grace and trusting him alone Lord I pray that you would now sanctify us build our faith show long suffering with us Lord now and in Christ as we seek to worship you and serve you and obey you we are grateful that in Christ we can come to you and pray in faith trusting and resting in your promises and trusting and resting in your word knowing Lord that you are faithful be with us now Lord as we study as we seek to learn of you and Lord seek to serve you fervently and devotedly we love you we thank you for this time and thank you for my brothers and sisters here those listening at home pray Lord that you'd bless our time in your word this evening in Jesus name Amen again strength in weakness judges chapter 6 verses 33 through 40 so we consider this text together the Lord delights to demonstrate his power through our weakness the Lord delights to demonstrate his power through our weakness in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 27 Paul says that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty in that text in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 Paul gives us the reason why God chooses to do that and it's for the purpose that no flesh should glory in his presence and when Paul there in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 is speaking of weak things Paul is speaking of us those whom God has chosen he has chosen the weak things us of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty we are the weak ones now we know in our day and age that many profess to be strong many profess to be strong and it's a virtue day today to consider yourself to be a strong person you know a strong woman a strong man mentally strong some even appear by worldly standards to be strong physically strong mentally strong intellectually strong however the opposite exactly the opposite is true we are dramatically and devastatingly weak we are made of dust our outward man is decaying we're like the grass that withers or the flower that fades James says that our lives are like a vapor that a parent appears for just a little while and then vanishes away Paul later in 2nd Corinthians would refer to us as clay pots clay pots fragile cracked easily broken common we're not made of gold dust we're made of dirt right dust of the earth not gold dust but dirt we're powerless against death powerless to save ourselves powerless in sin to ascend to any good to ascend to any righteousness destruction and misery are in our ways all together Paul says we've become unprofitable unprofitable despite that fact and if you meditate on that for just a moment you know that it is a fact how weak we are despite that fact we are astonishingly prone to pride astonishingly astonishingly prone to self-reliance we're prone to self-exaltation fallen man races to glory in God's presence races to glory anywhere else but in God's presence racing to glory against God but fallen man races to glory even Christians even those of us who are called even Christians are so often to our shame we confess that we're shamefully so often given over to pride and self-reliance and in pride and self-reliance our faith is often so weak we're quick quick to take matters into our own hands we fail to acknowledge or believe that we are in his hands and we want to take matters into our own hands when we are weak and so God being gracious being merciful being patient and long suffering with us God takes the good and necessary steps that he must to humble us and that humbling of his people is designed to grow their faith and in humbling us God is very patient with us long suffering with us very often that process of growth that process where God humbles us as his people is a painful process it's not pleasant doesn't feel good he has to show us how weak we really are and often he shows us that in adversity and difficulty in trial but the Lord is gracious he's far more interested in our humility than he is in our comfort humility depends upon him that's exactly where we need to depend right humility worships him humility places reliance and places gratitude and places devotion and places worship where it belongs that places it with him in that way when God humbles us God glorifies his grace glorifies his mercy glorifies his patience and glorifies his strength his power in our sight and when God does that it's good for us right it's always good for us why because we are weak and he is our strength it's always good for us and we need to see that rather than cultivating a reliance upon our own strength which is not existent we are made to see how weak we are it's often that God gives us enough rope to hang ourselves so to speak to see how weak we are so that his strength and his power is made perfect the Bible says or affirmed or fully revealed in our weakness so that we would trust in him where our trust belongs right and obey his word our most pressing need is not personal strength our most pressing need is not self-esteem or self-reliance our most pressing need is to heap contempt on our pride that's our most pressing need to abandon our hope in ourselves and to put all our faith in him alone as our strength and then to say with the psalmist the Lord is my strength in my shield my heart trusts in him and I am helped the chief evidence or illustration of this fact is the person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world in the eyes of the world he is weak he's a stone of stumbling a rock of offense but to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks he is the Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God great power seen in what the world would say is weakness in our text this evening we see Gideon in great need of learning this very lesson this very same lesson and as Gideon learns this lesson in Judges chapter six we need to remember this lesson in Judges chapter six let us learn it in Judges chapter six so that we might have to learn it less in the school of hard knocks later right let's heed the lesson that we learn here from Gideon in Judges chapter six as Gideon begins to learn the lesson we see both God's power and God's patience God's power on display as our source of strength in verses 33 through 35 and then God's patience with our weakness verses 36 through 40 in both ways God is so immeasurably gracious and merciful and long-suffering with us so God's power God's patience first consider with me God's power in verse 33 then all the Midianites and the Amalekites the people of the east gathered together they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon then he blew the trumpet and the Abiyah's rites gathered behind him and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh who also gathered behind him he also sent messengers to Asher Zebulun and Naftali and they came up to meet them but to put this event in context we have to remember that Gideon's weak we've seen his weakness displayed in the text right in fact the entire nation of Israel is devastated by impotence in the face of the Midianite menace getting his fearful discourage he's without hope the people fearful discouraged without hope and remember the story the Midianites would come in once a year for seven years they've been going through this the Midianites would swarm in take their crops take their cattle the Israelites would scramble into the hills in the caves hiding out and in chapter 6 verse 6 the Lord describes Israel as greatly impoverished in other words small in number they're weak they're physically weak the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon chapter 6 verse 11 and what do we find Gideon doing Gideon is hiding out in the wine press threshing weed hiding there for fear of the Midianites the Lord comes to him the angel of the Lord comes and says mighty man of valor and he calls him that for what he's about to do at the moment though he's not there yet God has a work to do in Gideon and we'll see that as we go now what's the reason for their weakness great weakness what's the reason the nation including Gideon's own family is steeped in idolatry worshiping worthless idols now what we find then is a physical weakness a physical fear a physical impotence that depicts or points to a devastating spiritual weakness in other words the spiritual weakness of the people the spiritual impotence of the people undergirds or causes the physical weakness of the people it depicts or points to a devastating spiritual weakness they were spiritually impoverished And so they were far more than physically impoverished. They were malnourished, you could say. And Gideon here is no picture of faith. There are many who would preach this text, right? And hold up Gideon as a picture of faith. Or hold up Gideon's faith as commendable. There's nothing commendable about Gideon's faith here. Gideon is faithless. Gideon is unbelieving. Gideon is a picture of unbelief. That which would have strengthened him. That which would have sustained them. Faith in the Lord. Communion with the Lord. The appointed means of grace. Worship of God. All that has been set aside, neglected. All that has been abandoned. And now in its place, a cancerous tumor is growing. Gain green is setting in. And the people have become impoverished. Now the same is true of you. The same is true of me. If we neglect those means by which God intends to strengthen and sustain you. If we neglect those means, we neglect our own spiritual health. We neglect or abandon our own source of strength and nourishment. We become impoverished. Small. Maybe even the host of something deadly. It'll cause you to stunt your growth. You'll find yourself not growing. You'll find yourself languishing. You'll find yourself on a regular basis in conflict. Find yourself not understanding. Find yourself weak. As the Bible says that many of you by now should be teachers. We could also say that it would be biblically appropriate that by now anyone who's been here for any length of time should be strong. Should be maturing and growing and healthy. God is so gracious to provide us with everything that we need to be growing and thriving and healthy and strong and running and obedient and faithful and full of faith in our Christian walk. The Lord provides us with everything that we need. And yet through the neglect of those means that God intends to strengthen and sustain you you find yourself impoverished and weak. And oftentimes there are those that are childish, unable to digest meat, only able to take milk. Maybe even the host of something deadly like the seeds of apostasy. We need to take care, take care with the means that God has given us and not received the grace of God in vain. By the time the Lord comes to Gideon here Gideon is ready to acknowledge his own weakness. Ready to acknowledge the weakness of the nation, right? He sees his physical weakness. He understands it. Chapter 6 verse 15. So he said to him, said to the angel of the Lord, Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my father's house. And look at chapter 6 verse 15 of what the Lord has done. God has chosen the weakest man from the weakest clan. The Lord delights to demonstrate his power through our weakness, doesn't he? The Lord is going to do that. Well here we are again. Here we are again. Verse 33 then. All the Midianites, all the Amalekites, the people of the east, they're once again, they've swept in across the land. They're all encamped in the Jezreel Valley. Jezreel Valley is in the north of the country, sort of southwest of the Sea of Galilee. In seven years they've been doing this. They spread out like locusts, the Bible says. The enemies of God's people. Interesting, often times the enemies of God's people gather together in this valley, the Valley of Jezreel. That was under Barak. They gathered there in the Valley of Jezreel. Revelation 16, this is where the Battle of Armageddon is going to be. The hill at Megiddo is here in the Jezreel Valley. Now the enemies of God's people, gathering here again, the Midianites are there. The people who had joined with the Moabites to curse Israel in Numbers 22, led the people of Israel into sin. The Amalekites are here. The people who attacked Israel from their rearguard in Exodus as they came out of Egypt. People that God is particularly despising. And the people of the east are there also here in Camp in the Jezreel Valley. They've taken over. Now remember, remember, this is the land that the Lord has given to his people. And here these enemy usurpers have taken up residence in this land. If his people had trusted the Lord, if they had obeyed his voice, then they would be occupying this land free and clear. But they've not obeyed his voice. And now there are enemy invaders in the heart of Israel wreaking havoc on his people. There's a spiritual counterpart to all of this reality. A spiritual counterpart to all of it isn't there. They let the enemy in the front door. Or you could say in going into the land that God had given them, they didn't drive out the enemy as they were commanded to. They didn't obey God's word. And so they let the enemy camp out there, let the enemy stay. Now the enemy has multiplied. The enemy has become a snare. And now foreign enemies are swarming into Israel, taking what they've, the hard work that they've done, raised their crops. The enemy has now become a spiritual snare, a physical snare, and always a snare to Israel. But this time around, something is different. Look at verse 34. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Then Gideon blew the trumpet. The Abiyah's rites gathered behind him. Literally, the Spirit of the Lord was clothed with Gideon. It's an interesting word there in the Hebrew. Many interpret this to mean that the Spirit of the Lord was draped upon Gideon as a garment, like a cloak. And it wouldn't necessarily be wrong to think of that. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. But the grammar here actually suggests that the Spirit of God took upon himself Gideon as a garment. In other words, the Spirit possessed Gideon. The Spirit possessed Gideon. God has now, by His Spirit, empowered Gideon, clothed Gideon with the Spirit. Or the Spirit is clothed, and now you can say with Gideon. God has equipped Gideon to do what God has called him to do. And God is now at work through Gideon. Gideon blew the shofar, the trumpet, that ram's horn. And Gideon goes from trembling to trumpeting. That's by the power of God, by the power of His Spirit. From timid to trumpeting. And the Abiyah's rites, who are the Abiyah's rites? The Abiyah's rites were Gideon's own family. Now remember from a sermon a couple of weeks ago that Gideon's family, his clan, were the very ones who were offering sacrifices to bail at an offer, at an altar, and had an asherapole set up beside it. Gideon was told to go in and tear down that altar, tear down that asherapole, and the Abiyah's rites were the ones who wanted to kill Gideon for doing it. And here, they're the very ones who now rally to Gideon at the blowing of the trumpet. It's all because of Gideon's magnetic personality, isn't it? Gideon had such charisma. They just know it doesn't have anything to do with any of that. It's because the Spirit of God is empowering Gideon and is at work in this circumstance. They all rally to Gideon at the blowing of the trumpet. Certainly, there was the Spirit. And now, Spirit-empowered proclamation going on as well. Look at verse 35. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all Manasseh who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naftali, and they came up to meet them. First, he calls, and his own tribe, Manasseh, responds. Then, all the tribes in the north, Asher, Zebulun, and Naftali, all those tribes near where the enemy has gathered now in the Jezreel Valley. And all these formerly impotent, powerless, weak, spiritually malnourished Israelites gather now at the call of Gideon. It's all because of a work of the Spirit of God, right? All because God is at work. In God's power, through God's Spirit, Gideon becomes a powerful herald. Spirit-empowered proclamation. See, gives the message. Spirit-empowered leadership. And when it seems just moments ago that the circumstances were utterly hopeless, Israel is tramping off back into the hills and caves. Now the people are responding. Why is that? It's because God is at work. In other words, this is a picture of God's power. God can do anything he wants to do in this circumstance. And if you think about it, in order to demonstrate his power, God is bringing this circumstance about. He brought the Midianites, the Amalekites, the people from the east into that valley so that his power might be shown through them, right? He did that with Pharaoh. He's doing it again now in the Jezreel Valley. God is sovereign. God is reigning. And we see God's power at work. Why would we ever be faithless? How many times have you seen this power at work in your own life? In our circumstances, here at this church, many, many, many, many times, we've seen God in power at work. Now Gideon, the judge, appears now. Finally appears now to be ready for battle. He blows the trumpet. He sends for the tribes to come. He's proclaimed the Lord's promised victory, certainly. All the people now are gathered around him. He has an army now at his disposal. Certainly now he has the confidence to trust the Lord. Like, he'll trust the Lord and obey him? No, he doesn't. It's amazing, isn't it? Gideon continues to doubt. He doubts right up to the very brink of battle. Gideon's faith in the Lord is simply weak. Simply weak. And we can think, like, we remember the story of Moses, right? Or we see in the New Testament, the example that comes to mind is Peter. Often how we're weak. And we don't trust in the Lord. And the Lord would be just and would be right, wouldn't he, to just, okay, I'm not going to use you any longer. I'm going to pass over you, or I'm going to consume you, and I'm going to make of some other guy a great nation, right? The Lord would be right in doing that, but he doesn't do that. The Lord is patient. In continuing to delight, to display his power through our weakness, God also delights to magnify his patience or his long suffering with us. We see God's power. Look at God's patience, his patience. Verse 36. So Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, you notice that? Gideon says, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there's dew on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said. Notice those words, as you have said. Gideon's here is putting conditions on God. God's already said. It's as you have said. God has said already. This is what he's going to do. But then Gideon begins to put conditions on God. Well, God, if you will, verse 36, then I shall, verse 37. Gideon is the one here who is running the show, so to speak. No. He acknowledges this as the word of God, as you have said, as you have said, and yet he doesn't believe it. In reading this, you know, you'd have to expect the ground to open up under Gideon's feet and swallow him alive into the pit at this point where he stands. But God doesn't do that. God doesn't do that. And it is a miraculous, a glorious testimony of God's patience. God's long-suffering. God's compassion. God's pity. God pities us in our weakness. If you're in Christ, God looks upon you in pity and delights in helping and growing and maturing our faith. Delights in coming to our aid. Delights in showing himself strong through our weakness. Miraculous grace, miraculous mercy, miraculous patience. What does God do? What does God do here? God fulfills Gideon's request. Look at verse 38. And it was so. It's amazing, isn't it? Absolutely amazing. And it was so, verse 38. When Gideon arose early the next morning, squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Okay, okay, okay. That's enough, Gideon. That's enough, right? Get on with it. Notice this is not a picture of faith. You can't preach a sermon commending Gideon's faith at this point. This is a picture of unbelief. It's a picture of faithlessness. You're not really entitled to preach a sermon here on this text about how to find God's will. You can't do that from this text. This is not a text about how we find God's will. How many of us have at one point or another in our Christian background have thought about it that way, right? I want to know what God's will is in this circumstances. I need to, you know, proverbially, I need to lay out a fleece. That's not what this text is about. You're not going to find a sermon here about how to find God's will. God's will is clear here to Gideon. As you have said, God has clearly laid it out. Gideon already clearly knew the will of God. As you've said, Gideon simply needs to trust and obey. The truth be told, that's often to our shame the way that it is with us. We can think to ourselves, I really want to know what God's will is in this circumstance. When God's will is very clear in his word, we need to go to his word to understand and to apply and obey the will of God as it has been revealed to us. We often don't do that. Why? Because we're self-willed, or we're weak, or we're faithless. God's word here to Gideon in particular is abundantly clear. God's word here is sufficient for Gideon. God's word here is given directly to Gideon. It's not mincing words. It's very clear. And what is happening here, what's going on in Gideon's heart and mind is not commendable. This is because Gideon here lacks faith. So much so that he now changes the conditions of the test. You know what? Now that I think about it, it seems like it may be a little too easy. The fleece is designed to soak up water and so the dew is going to fall. It would be sort of natural that there wouldn't be any dew on the ground. It's all going to be soaked into the fleece. And so, Lord, I just want to listen. I want to make sure. What you've told me, I just want to make sure. And he changes the conditions of the test. Look at verse 39. Then Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more. Let me test. Look at the use of that word, test. Look more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew. How did Lord respond? Verse 40. And God did so that night. Amazing patience. He accommodates Gideon. He pities Gideon. He comes alongside Gideon. He wants to help Gideon build. It's just the patience of God. The grace and mercy, the compassion of God, right? God did so that night. Verse 40. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground. Absolutely amazing. God with immeasurable patience allows Gideon to test him these two times. Gideon's use of that word, test. It's interesting the use of that word. It puts what Gideon is doing. Think with me. It puts what Gideon is doing in the same category with what the Israelites were doing in the wilderness when they tested God. Remember when they tested God at Refideum in Exodus 17 with water, right? They tested God again in the wilderness when they were supposed to go in, obey the Lord, trust the Lord, and go in and take the Promised Land. They continued to test God again and again and again. Here God very patient with Gideon as Gideon tests the Lord. God is patient, but not only impatient. God exceeds expectations in his pity here that he shows to Gideon. Test one, that all the ground be dry all around. Let there be dew only on the fleece. And so God answered as requested but soaked the fleece such that Gideon run a bowl full of water out of that fleece. Exceeded what Gideon asked for. Test two, entirely unnatural. Let the ground be soaked and let the fleece be dry yet God does exactly that. God continues to condescend in dealing with Gideon's weak faith. It magnifies the patience of God. God doesn't have to but he so often does God condescends in patience. God condescends in love, in mercy, in compassion. God condescends to care for us or to reassure us in our fear. He is patient with our weakness. He humbles himself as he humbles us, doesn't he? He humbles himself to bolster a fragile, fledgling faith to strengthen our confidence in his word. He often does that with us. And if you think about that in terms of our relationship with him as our Heavenly Father, he cares for us and gives us good things. What earthly father when his child comes and asks for bread, he gives him a stone? No. An earthly father desires to do good to us. How much more our Heavenly Father? I mean, think about maybe the illustration of your child. I've got two daughters obviously and one of my daughters I remember being in the pool, right? And as they're standing on the edge of the pool and they've got the floaties on, they've got the thing around their waist, but they're standing on the edge of the pool and fearful about jumping in. And you're standing in the pool holding your arms out wanting them to jump, right? And when they say no or they're scared, they're not going to jump, you don't reach out and rip them by the ankle into the water and say, how dare you not trust? That's not the way you deal with them, right? You're patient with them. You love them. You care for them. You bear long for their weakness. That's how God is with us. We must trust Him. We can trust Him even more than your child with the floaties on and the thing around their waist and dad sitting in the water. We can trust our Heavenly Father who cares for us and pities us and shows compassion toward us and is gracious and merciful toward us. We see so many examples of this in the Bible. One of the things I love and just treasure every time I come to read about it is the illustration of the disciples. The disciples are in the upper room with the Lord Jesus Christ John 13, 14, 15, you know, and the Lord is about to be crucified. He's going to His death and what is He doing in the upper room? He's reassuring those men. They don't know what is about to happen. Their world is about to be rocked. And what is the Lord doing in the eve of His death? The Lord is there reassuring them. Don't let your heart be troubled. I don't let your heart be troubled. Reassuring them, taking time with them. After the Lord is crucified before the Lord was crucified Peter denies Him three times. We see the weakness of the disciples. They all flee as a sheep are scattered without a shepherd and Peter denies Him. The Lord then is raised from the dead in power and comes back seen by the disciples. And He is there again bolstering their faith. The disciples are locked in a room for fear of the Jews and the Lord comes in the midst of them and says peace be with you. Cares for them. It's patient with their weakness, patient with their fledgling faith that you could say and wanting to build them up and mature them and grow them and strengthen their faith. He patiently restores, patiently builds them up and then we see Lord Jesus Christ on the beach with Peter, right? Taking care with Peter. Peter, do you love me? Peter denies Him three times. The Lord asked Him that question three times. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. It's just the care and the love and the compassion and the pity of the mercy of our Lord. It's just a glorious truth that we can rest in and hope in and trust in and live in and work in and serve in and obey in. Those same disciples who are fearful and fled, the Lord told them, you wait in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Acts 1.8, right? Remember, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, same city that crucify the Lord. You'll be witnesses there to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost ends of the earth. And those disciples, those same fearful weak faith men go right back into the city that crucify the Lord and preach the gospel boldly. It's amazing. A testimony of God's power at work in and through them and God's patience with them as He grows and cultivates and develops their faith. The Lord will do the same through you and I. We just need to trust Him. We need to believe in Him. We need to follow Him in faith and obey Him and listen, pour ourselves into His Word and let Him work through His Word to change our hearts, change our mind. We need to believe what He says. Take Him at His Word. Very often doesn't mean the absence of fear. It's trust in the face of fear. There's going to be fear. There's going to be difficulty. There's going to be adversity. Faith doesn't mean that you're fearless all the time. There's going to be fear. Faith simply involves trusting the Lord in the face of fear, trusting Him. And God is patient. God is kind. God is loving, compassionate with us. As He works in us, as He works through us, in power to do His will and in power to build and to grow our faith, to strengthen our faith, to strengthen our hand to walk with us as we go through difficulty and adversity and trials. We just need to trust the Lord. It's the lesson that Gideon is learning in Judges chapter 6. It's the lesson that we need to learn as we consider that text together tonight. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul is suffering under the grip, if you will, of a trial, a weakness, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him to keep him humble, as the Lord has said. Well, the Lord, after Paul prays three times to have it removed, the Lord says to him, my grace is sufficient for you and your faith is made perfect in weakness. Paul says, responding in faith then, doesn't he? Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. My brothers and sisters, may the power of Christ rest upon us as we trust in Him. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we rejoice Lord to see you as preeminently infinitely worthy of our trust, worthy of faith. And so Lord now we believe in you Lord, we put our faith and trust in you, help our unbelief, help us Lord in our weakness, hold us by the hand Lord and walk us through difficulty, walk us through adversity, grow and mature our often weak and fragile faith, help us Lord to learn to trust in you completely strengthen us Lord that we might be strong in your power that your power may be magnified your grace and mercy may be magnified in our weakness. And let us with Paul then rejoice boast in our affirmities so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. We love you Lord, we thank you for how patient you are with us, how gracious and how merciful you are with us, how compassionate you are with us thank you Lord for how just such a good heavenly Father you are to us. Help us Lord as we serve you. We love you in Jesus name, amen.